In Sept 2015, we entered into an agreement with Bobby Ragavan to carry out building work to completion at our new house in Carlswald. He presented himself as very professional and competent. Work commenced and he was paid per progress. He later requested for payments upfront, explaining that this would help in securing material timelously, and would speed up progress. To date we paid him well in excess to actual work done. He then also requested further payment for paving, garage door and driveway gates (this was not included in the original contract), he produced quotes from suppliers at a very reasonable price, and stated that if we paid immediately, this would secure delivery within a few days. We obliged and paid into an account in the name of C Ragavan. Having paid the money and expecting the material to be delivered, he kept promising tomorrow, and then the next day..., He then phoned to say that his family are down from Durban, and he will be visiting Sun City with them, and will meet on Saturday before going off. This never materialised, a couple of days after we got a hold of him, he mentioned that he is in Cape Town and doing some work for Funky Chicken, and will be back in a two weeks, but in the meantime, all our material has been paid for, and will be delivered in the next few days, he also gave us the suppliers contact details, which was all fictitious.
After numerous calls and messages, he finally agreed to meet with us. At the meeting we presented all the facts and figures to him, he acknowledged, and explained that he bought a BMW, and was in a financial predicament because the car was impounded, being a stolen vehicle, and he was ‘out of ‘pocket’ for R50000.00.He also stated that his wife had left him and has returned to Durban. At our meeting he promised that he would be on site by the next Thursday, and would re-start work to completion, and would pay back our money in two weeks. He never returned to site as promised, and we are still waiting for our money and his return to site to complete work paid for.
We have laid a fraud charge with SAPS and have handed him over to our Attorneys.
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